THE sorry Scarlets crashed out of the Heineken Cup with a dire defeat that was compounded by an injury to Wales outside-half Rhys Priestland.

Exeter outside-half Gareth Steenson kicked a 17-point haul to condemn the Scarlets to a third consecutive defeat to end their European dream with a hat-trick of group games still remaining. It was the English outfit's first Heineken Cup victory.

As well as the worrying iachilles injury to Priestland, Wales flanker Aaron Shingler also limped off in the second-half at Parc y Scarlets.

The Scarlets had lost their opening two games against Clermont Auvergne and Leinster, picking up a soliary bonus point from those two losses.

Exeter, who boasted the same points tally, were competing in their inaugural Heineken Cup tournament following their meteoric rise from the Championship to Europe's elite.

The Scarlets had initially found themselves in a more healthy position than the Blues and the Ospreys concerning the return of their Welsh internationals. Wing George North was absent with a hip problem, while back-rowers Rob McCusker and Josh Turnbull were also missing.

Exeter, who had won their last five matches in all competitions, included former Scarlets second-row Damian Welch who was making his first senior start.

And it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a soft and simple try from a scrum. A poor missed tackle from wing Liam Williams allowed Exeter full-back Luke Arscott to ghost through the hosts' defence and release scrum-half Haydn Thomas to score their first Heineken Cup try.

Steenson converted before opposite number Priestland responded with a penalty. Steenson restored the seven-point advantage after some Exeter scrum dominance.

Steenson slotted over a second penalty after the home pack were caught offside following a poor kick from scrum-half Aled Davies. Priestland and Steenson then swapped penalties before half-time as Exeter led 16-6 at the interval.

Priestland suffered his nasty-looking injury six minutes into the second-half and was stretchered off before Steenson added another penalty.

Priestland's replacement Aled Thomas and Steenson exchanged penalties before the Wales injury crisis continued as Shingler was forced off the field.

Replacement visiting prop Ben Moon was yellow carded at a scrum as a punishment for Exeter's continuous infringements and the Scarlets were fortunately awarded a penalty try with Thomas converting to reduce the deficit to 22-16.

The Scarlets launched a late onslaught to try and sneak the victory and avoid European elimination at the Heineken Cup halfway stage. But the hosts failed and victory would have been more than they deserved.